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NYT: New Tape Increases Pressure for NPR

By FZ - Posted on 14 March 2011

March 10, 2011- NPR was forced to do damage control for a third day in a row after the release of undercover audio in which a top fund-raiser is heard telling a person she thought was a potential donor that NPR could possibly shield the donation from government tax authorities.

The lengthy audio, taken from surreptitiously recorded telephone conversations, was released Thursday by the conservative activist James O’Keefe.

The NPR fund-raiser who was taped, Betsy Liley, believed she was talking to prospective donors from a group called the Muslim Education Action Center. In the recording, one of the fake donors asks her if a proposed $5 million donation could be kept secret from the federal government, even if NPR’s books are audited.

At one point he says, “It sounded like you were saying that NPR would be able to shield us from a government audit — is that correct?”

Ms. Liley responds, “I think that is the case, especially if you were anonymous, and I can inquire about that.”

In a statement late Thursday, NPR disavowed the comments, saying that the statement by Ms. Liley, its senior director of institutional giving, was “factually inaccurate and not reflective of NPR’s gift practices.” It said, “All donations — anonymous and named — are fully reported to the I.R.S.”